Coming Home Again
by NeonBlackRoseRevived
Summary: see summary inside! rewrite of Coming Home Again by whothefrickleisbucky but with a TWIST! involves all the avengers and others from marvel movies
1. Chapter 1

**_Summary: Tony Stark is 15 years old and lives in a shitty apartment with a father she hates and a mother who is hardly ever coherent. When her genius gets her into trouble with the CEO of Hammer Industries she's offered a chance to make enough money to possible get away._**

**I DO NOT OWN THE AVENGERS, OR MARVEL, OR IRONMAN OR ANY OTHER MOVIE REFERENCES IN THIS STORY!**

_This story Coming Home Again belongs to __**somanyfeels**__ on AO3 and is also on her account on under the name __**whothefrickleisbucky**__!_

_Yes, I got __**whothefrickleisbucky**__ to give me their permission to rewrite their story, but with a TWIST!_

* * *

><p>Chapter 1<p>

Toni was a bundle of nerves. She was sitting in the nicest limo she had ever been in, the only limo, and eating snacks she couldn't even pronounce. The only problem, she

was sure she was here for only one reason. She had hacked into Justin Hammers 'secure' bank information last week hardly took her anytime at all. She didn't take a lot, just

enough to feed her for the month. Her parents were busy with the bills.

So when the limo pulled up next to her on her walk home from Burger King, and she was pulled inside by the goon stereotype, she was scared. Then when she saw the

richest man in America, Justin Hammer, sitting across from her, she mentally kicked herself and calculated her best chances for survival of jumping out of a moving vehicle.

"Kidnapping is illegal." Toni smiled at the man. Hammer picked at his teeth and looked down at her.

"So is stealing money. My money." He held out a candy bar to the girl, "Honestly it was quiet impressive. When we traced the signal to your shitty little apartment and got all

the information on the happy family. We thought it was one of your parents but your dad is to focused on his drinking he can hardly keep his job and your mom-well she's

lovely." Hammer smirked as Toni glanced around and pretended to read the foreign writing on her candy.

"Shouldn't girls dress more . . . . . . . girly?" Hammer questioned, his eyes raking over Toni's small frame, taking in her short brown hair, deep brown eyes, her pale

complexion, her light pink lips, a size to large AC/DC t-shirt, and baggy jeans with grey sneakers. Toni froze.

"I won't tell if you don't." Toni eyed Hammer while she fidgeted between the large man who threw her in and locked the door. The older man's smile widened.

"You're 15, kid?"

"Yes, but not a kid. I did manage to get into your oh so secure bank account. Didn't you set up the security yourself?" Toni glared. She knew she should learn to keep her

mouth shut. She was kidnapped and she couldn't help herself. She pulled out her phone.

"Shouldn't you be at school?" Hammer said as he straightened his tie, anger filling his eyes. "Little kids go to school."

"Shouldn't you be updating your network security? Just gained access to Hammer industries secure files. What is 'Project Mare'?" Toni held up her phone. She's an idiot. A

genius but an idiot. Anger the scary people who picked you up off the street, brilliant Toni. "Graduated last year."

"I like you." Hammer murmured, the sharp look in his eyes said otherwise, but there was another look in his eyes, a predatory look. The limo pulled up in front of her

building. Toni grimaced at the thought of all the wrong people who will see her climb out of here. "I have grown up things to go to but I'll keep in touch."

Did Hammer just wink at me?

With that the door was unlocked and Toni was shoved out. As she frowned at the limo speeding away she was tempted to stick her tongue out (okay she did). Then she

noticed how dark it was.

Toni ran into her building and ignored the smell of beer and piss. She ran up the stairs and down the hall, stopping just outside her door and listened. She heard the quiet

whir of the TV and the angry mumbling of her dad on the other side. With a deep breath she entered.

Her mom was passed out on the couch with a small stream of drool dripping off her chin, nothing surprising. Howard was watching some comedy through the static of their

television, empty bottles of beer at his feet.

"Where the hell have you been?" Howard said as he glanced up.

"Nowhere. Just being productive." Toni said. Trying to quickly slip past and get to her room.

Howard stood and grabbed her by the arm. "I asked where you been."

Toni tensed up, recognizing the look in her fathers eyes. Drunk Anger. She couldn't get out of this no matter what she said.

"I was just out getting something to eat." Toni whispered. it was the truth, usually the truth hurts less.

"Are you saying i cant provide for my family? you could eat here." Howard's grip tightened and he slammed Toni against the wall.

"There isn't anything here! you blow everything on alcohol and mom spends it all on drugs!" There it was again. Her mouth. And there was what it usually brought her, a fist

to the gut.

"I work my ass off at that damn garage so you can live here. You're just ungrateful." Another fist, this time to the jaw Howard stumbled back than. Falling into his chair and

reaching for his beer. It sounded like Howard said 'slut' before he ignored Toni.

Toni locked the door to her room after she entered. she left the light off and slowly made her way through the maze of books she had stacked around. Once she fell into her

bed she simply held her stomach and rubbed her jaw until she fell asleep.

The next morning had its usual feeling of wrongness. Howard would be at work, fixing cars making the apartment seem peaceful. His mom would be scrubbing the kitchen

and humming to herself. Toni touched her shoulder gently after she had been washing the same spot on the counter for ten minutes. She blinked at him with a gentle smile

and went back to her scrubbing.

Toni sat down in front of the TV with her engineering textbook. She may not be able to afford college, but she could still learn. The news was talking about how the Avengers

saved the west coast from an invasion of lizard people. Toni chuckled and flipped her book open when her phone vibrated.

_Kid,_

_I'm done with my grown up things so why don't you leave the playground and come join us for lunch. We have business to discuss._

_JH_

Great. First, she hacks into the bank account of one of the richest men in the world. Then, just to show off, into the servers of the company that builds weapons for the

military. And now he wants to have lunch? Toni was sure she was getting arrested. Or killed. Either way she was still being mocked. Couldn't stand for that.

Twenty minutes later she was in another limo, which she decided was the worst vehicle in the world. It took her straight to one of the tallest buildings Toni had ever seen

with "HAMMER" written across the side. she went straight to the top where the billionaire apparently lived in a penthouse that cost more money than Toni knew she would

ever make in her life.

"Ah, Toni Stark. Lovely to see you again." Hammer sauntered over to pat her on the lower back. Toni tensed, but quickly relaxed. "Meet one of my board members, Obadiah

Stane." A large bald man walked over and kissed her hand.

"I heard so much about you, Ms. Stark." Stane grinned coldly. Toni had a bad feeling about both of these men. she was most definitely going to be killed. Learned her lesson.

Never hacking again.

"Well, lunch is already on the table." Hammer dragged Toni by the shoulder to a large dining room with windows taking up the entire wall. Toni slipped out from under his

grip to look out over the view of the city. All the buildings were nicer, cleaner than the ones on her side of town and she could see over all of them. "Don't smudge the

windows!" She heard Hammer whine behind her.

Toni turned and sat at the large table. She didn't recognize any of the food that was set before her. Probably foreign, Toni lived off of burgers and potato chips. Still, food was

food.

"You do realize Hammer Industries has one of the most secure wireless networks on the planet?" Stane said as he threw his tie over his shoulder.

"If you say so." Toni chuckled. She poked at the gooey…. _vegetables?_ in front of her.

"Well, it does. I designed most of it myself." Hammer huffed.

"And you got into it in under 5 minutes on a cell phone." Stane smiled at him. "No one's ever got in before, you understand."

"And you want to congratulate me with goop?" Toni took a nervous bite, not that bad. Hammer groaned.

"No, Toni. We think you can do more!" Stane said, his booming voice filling the room.

"Like juggling?" Toni smiled.

"No, we want you to hack SHIELD."


	2. Chapter 2

**_Summary: Tony Stark is 15 years old and lives in a shitty apartment with a father she hates and a mother who is hardly ever coherent. When her genius gets her into trouble with the CEO of Hammer Industries she's offered a chance to make enough money to possible get away._**

**I DO NOT OWN THE AVENGERS, OR MARVEL, OR IRONMAN OR ANY OTHER MOVIE REFERENCES IN THIS STORY!**

_This story Coming Home Again belongs to __**somanyfeels**__ on AO3 and is also on her account on under the name __**whothefrickleisbucky**__!_

_Yes, I got __**whothefrickleisbucky**__ to give me their permission to rewrite their story, but with a TWIST!_

* * *

><p>Chapter 2<p>

Another reason She was an idiot. Toni laughs at people who will probably kill or rape her, like when two highly successful, powerful men take you into the nicer part of the

city to have lunch and ask to hack into the database of SHIELD. SHIELD. The most secret of secret government agencies that everyone knows about. Any smart person, that

is. Of course she wasn't going to do it. She would probably end up in some prison in the arctic no one knew about. Better to be murdered by a scary bald guy and Justin

Hammer.

Stane was beginning to look frustrated and Hammer just looked annoyed.

"We'll pay you $250,000." Hammer said. Toni stopped laughing. That was a lot of money, but to her $50 was a lot of money. With that she could pay to go to college and

never see her parents again. Actually buy textbooks instead of stealing them from Barnes&Noble. On the other side, if she got caught she could spend the rest of her life in a

federal prison, with the threat of torture, interrogation, and death, Would she do that for a quarter of a million dollars? Hell yes she would.

"What are you looking for? In the SHIELD database?" Toni asked. "If you're looking for their weekly lunch menu I could do that. Might have a problem if you want a list of top

assassins or where the nukes are at."

"My dear child, we just want you to clear our files. Everything they have on Mr. Stane, myself, and Hammer Industries should be permanently erased from the system.

Whatever they have, gone." Hammer shoved a forkful of probably expensive whatever into his mouth. "It would probably be best if you didn't read much of it."

Great, her big break and it's with the bad guys. She was thoroughly screwed. These guys were probably doing some shady business that she didn't want to be a part of and it

would be best to let SHIELD handle them. Maybe she could just hide the files away, instead of deleting them. Hide them on the Avenger's porn stash or something.

"Alright. I'll do it. But I'll need a laptop. And then I'm going home."

Toni made it home on time, not late enough to permit her father's attention and early enough to see her mom coherent. She kissed her on the cheek, said hello and went to

her room. She pulled her new laptop and a bag of taco bell out from under her sweater and turned on the space heater. If it got any colder she would have to buy a coat. If

this went well than she will definitely have enough money for one.

Toni turned on the light and sat on her bed, staring at her sea of books. She rubbed at the bruises on her arm wincing slightly and looked at the laptop. The landlord gave

the entire building a Wi-Fi signal, a shitty one but it worked well enough.

She munched on her burritos and started up the laptop, one designed by Hammer techs, she'd have to check the coding to fix it before hacking into the most advanced

intelligence agency of in history. She fixed a few bugs, upped the security, and, oh look, they were monitoring her. She'd just get rid of that. After a few hours she had it

perfect, she was… more confident she could get in successfully and not get arrested.

Now was as good as a time as any. It took her a few hours and then she was staring at SHIELDS most secure files. Toni didn't want to stay longer than necessary. First she

had to find the Hammer files in the assortment of other top-secret information. Tesseract, not what she wanted but looked interesting. Identities and location of the Avengers,

ooh maybe later.

Something about new hellicarriers. The Winter Soldier… sounded awesome but no time. List of scientist, boring. There it was, all the files regarding Hammer Industries. Toni

copied the file and deleted it entirely from the system. She then went onto the Avenger's personal servers, they would see it and most definitely report back. Toni got the

money, whatever SHIELD wanted to do about Hammer would be done. Toni wasn't turning to the dark side. Even if she would look good in black.

Now, where could she put it so they could find it again later? Dr. Banner had a treasure trove of research, what Toni wouldn't give for time to go through it all. The good

Captain's was pretty empty. Thor's was empty too. Hawkeye, here we go. He watched Orange is the New Black every couple of nights on his computer. Toni replaced the

Netflix app with the Hammer files and quickly backed out the SHIELD network. She made sure to erase any trace she was there at all. With a sigh she closed the computer

and fell back into her bed. Maybe she would run away to MIT.

Toni got her money. $250,000 dollars of beautiful green bills in a suitcase (rather clichéd for her taste) tucked between her bed and the wall. Now she just needed to figure

out how to spend it. Maybe she could just run away to Costa Rica and live in a shack by the sea that was also a short distance from a burger joint and had excellent internet.

Live on the bare necessities.

She was willing to admit she's not the best at planning ahead. But she had the money now, she could do whatever she wanted. She's not quite sure what that is at the

moment but she would figure it out.

It was two weeks later that the genius was sitting at home, re-reading a book on robotic engineering. Her dad was at work and her mom was in her room sleeping. She was

planning on going to get burgers, maybe twenty of them with as much coffee as she could dream, when there was a light tapping at the door. Odd, the neighbors in the area

weren't particularly friendly and visitors weren't all that common. She glanced through the peephole and standing in front of her door was a red-haired woman. Slowly

undoing all the locks except the chain she opened the door just enough to see her clearly.

"We're not interested." Toni said flatly. The woman was probably twenty something, messy red curls, and really pretty despite not wearing makeup and looked rather tired.

Probably wasn't smart for her to be wandering around by herself.

"Sorry to bother you. I'm just asking if any apartments in this building are available. I really need a place to live." She honestly looked it, her clothes were several sizes too

big and she had this cautious set to her jaw.

"You came to the third floor to ask about apartments?" Toni asked. She lived in the middle of the floor so even if she did come all the way up here she could have just

stopped at the stairs.

"Asking everyone I can. Not a very polite bunch."

"Guy downstairs was kicked out for cooking meth, try there ma'am." Toni said as she leaned forward.

"Rushman. Natalie Rushman. Do you like living here? Is it nice?" She smiled at her. Natalie leaned against the door frame and crossed her arms.

"The plumbing works. McDonald's down the street so I can't complain. Doesn't matter anyway." Natalie beamed a bit more. Glancing down the hall.

"Oh, are you moving? Maybe I could take your place. An old meth lab isn't ideal." Her eyes widened.

"No, my parents are staying. I'm moving out." She furrowed her brows then, they were perfectly plucked. Odd for someone who lived around here. She smiled brighter and

tilted her head to the side.

"Where are you going? You seem a little young to be living by yourself." She did it. The one thing Toni couldn't stand was being called young. She already tested out of High

School so it wasn't like she was an idiot who couldn't understand the 'adult world'. She was a genius after all.

"No, I'm going to college. Have my GED and everything. Bye." She backed up and Toni hastily closed the door.

The next day Toni was home alone, a brilliant yet rare occurrence. She sat in her room and researched colleges and Costa Rica. Keeping her options open. Her parents

probably wouldn't let her go to college so she'd have to fake an identity. How does one even do that? Toni went to the kitchen for a glass of water when the door opened. She

turned around to find several stern looking men in suits. Great.

"Breaking and Entering." Toni said loudly as they started looking through the apartment, opening the empty cupboards, flipping cushions, and confiscated her laptop. She

went to protest when one man held up a large round badge. Extra great. "Unlawful search and seizure."

"Mr. Stark, I'm Agent Coulson and I can ensure you it is entirely lawful. You are a suspect in a recent breach of national security." A man said, arms crossed as he watched

everyone else scan the apartment. Toni's heart did a leap when they left her room with the suitcase of money. This day was getting better and better.

"Sure it's me, Agent?" Toni took a small step towards the door. "My neighbor, Gretty, she's always going on with her plots to over throw the government." The suit then

turned to look at her with a slight smile.

"Mrs. Donaldson is 95 years old and when one of our agents interviewed her and she kept talking about how interesting it was the nation elected 'that catholic Kennedy'. You,

however, have an incredibly high level of intelligence, showed a recent interest in leaving town and…" Toni took another slow step towards the door as Coulson opened the

suitcase handed to him and nodded. "…have come into a rather large sum of money recently."

"I'm really good a poker." Toni took one final step towards the door and was about to grab the handle to make her break when Coulson smiled at her.

"Do you think you can outrun ten highly trained men?" Toni thought about it, she knew he couldn't, but she was never one to give up on her dreams. She ripped open the

door and took off down the hall. She managed to make it a total of three feet outside her door before she was tackled to the ground by Agent Coulson. Toni sighed, she was

so close to freedom. Not to mention having a guy tackle her to the ground is unsettling.

"Mr. Stark, you are under arrest." Best day ever. Goodbye quarter of a million dollars. _We could have been so great together_, Toni thought. Hello secret prison in the middle

of nowhere.

* * *

><p><strong>So here's chapter 2!<strong>

**yeah I only changed a bit in this chapter. But that's it, I'm making subtle (Small) changes because remember none of them know Tony is actually Toni.**

**And I recently joined Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) So I can't update at all for November! Sorry! **


	3. Chapter 3

Hello Everyone!

Nope, sorry this isn't a chapter update but this story i have it posted on Wattpad.

I posted it on Wattpad and i am updating my stories on their faster then i am on here because Wattpad I can do with my Ipod. I can only update

on this site using a regular cpu, at the library since i do not own one.

Again i am sorry! but you can read it on Wattpad!

~Rose


	4. Chapter 4

**_Summary: Toni Stark is 15 years old and lives in a shitty apartment with a father she hates and a mother who is hardly ever coherent. When her genius gets _**

**_her into trouble with the CEO of Hammer Industries she's offered a chance to make enough money to possible get away._**

**I DO NOT OWN THE AVENGERS, OR MARVEL, OR IRONMAN OR ANY OTHER MOVIE REFERENCES IN THIS STORY!**

_This story Coming Home Again belongs to _**_somanyfeels_**_ on AO3 and is also on her account on under the name _**_whothefrickleisbucky_**_!_

_Yes, I got _**_whothefrickleisbucky_**_ to give me their permission to rewrite their story, but with a TWIST!_

* * *

><p>Chapter 3<br>"I demand a lawyer." Toni said as she fiddled with her handcuffs. She was in an interrogation room, just like the ones in all the movies. It was hardly lit, camera watching her

in the corner, metal table and chairs. They left her in here alone, probably to sweat the information out of her. She was fucked. Probably going to get tortured.

Then the door opened as Agent Coulson and... the homeless redhead from a few weeks ago walked in. Interesting. She looked nicer, cleaned up and dressed in a leather

bodysuit. She was probably where these guys found out Toni was going to take off. Idiot couldn't keep her mouth shut. It was to be expected. She should really be use to

keeping her mouth shut, what with keeping her gender a secret.

"Well, you clean up nice. Did you find that apartment?" Toni put on her best "I'm not utterly terrified of being put in a scary government prison for the rest of my life" smile

and leaned towards her as they sat down. The redhead, Natalie but that was probably not her real name, smirked at her. It was one of those smirks that struck fear into the

hearts of everyone, especially Toni but it didn't scare her as much as it would others, after all Toni was use to dealing with her father on a daily basis, Coulson sat down

across from her and began flipping through numerous papers. Papers probably about her, about all the terrible things she did and the even worse things they are going to do

to her. They probably didn't have much on her, she never really did anything worth putting on paper, and the one time in the past she remembers she changed a lot of her

papers to fit Tony Stark not Toni Stark, most of the information is fake. Toni thought about hiding under the table, but decided against it. Wanted to face her punishment like

an adult.

"So two weeks ago our technical analysts discovered a breach in security. They tracked the signal back to your apartment building, but couldn't get any information regarding

identifying the hacker. We didn't know what they took until a few days later when the Avengers were having their bi-weekly television marathon that they noticed Netflix was

replaced with our confidential files regarding Hammer Industries." Coulson leaned back. "Did I miss anything?"

"A lot of other people live in my building Agent. Might not have been me. Unless I'm under arrest please let me go before I'm late for my mama's fantastic dinner." Toni said.

No one would care if she was gone all day, but her dad thought it was too disrespectful to be out too late at night.

"We did extensive background checks on everyone in the building and undercover agents interviewed anyone with an intelligence high enough to do this, that's just you. Not

only did you express interest in leaving the area, but we found a large sum of money in your room. Care to explain?"

"I'm an excellent gambler." Toni nodded to the man. If there is one thing she learned growing up in her neighborhood it was to keep lying even if she was caught red handed.

Although she should probably try harder instead of joking around. "And I wanted to spend my hard earned money moving somewhere warm, like Hawaii. Oh, I haven't

thought of Hawaii."

"Thought you were going to college?" Natalie, queen of lies and intimidation, said. She crossed her arms and leaned forward to glare at her. Toni was reconsidering cowering

under the table.

"I was. I am. The um- The University of Honolulu. Fantastic school. The robotics team is really impressive." Toni smiled at her. She wasn't sure if there even was a University

of Honolulu but she was going to bluff until the end of her days, which might be soon, and why was she lying like this?! Toni knew she was a better liar then this.

Natalie, or whoever she was, furrowed her eyebrows and turned her attention to Coulson. "Are you sure about this? He's not a very good liar and we haven't even threatened

him yet."

"Well, you can be very intimidating, Romanov." Coulson smiled at her. Toni sighed internally. They were going to play buddies while threatening pain of death.

"So here is how is how it's going to work, Mr. Stark. Given the nature of your work, we gathered someone hired you to either steal or erase our files on Hammer. I think

you're a good kid, didn't want to get in the way of us stopping a very bad man so you made sure we still had what we needed. However, given the nature of your

circumstances you needed the money so you took the job any way. Do you understand?" Coulson said matter-of-factly. Toni nodded and looked at the table.

"So, was it Hammer who hired you?" Natalie, no it was Romanov now, said. Toni wanted to say yes, she really did. However, that would involve selling out one of the richest

men in the world whose primary form of income was making weapons of mass destruction for the military. No thank you. Also, that Obadiah Stane didn't sit right with her.

Toni had the feeling that if she mentioned Stane she would end up murdered in her sleep. So Toni just shook his head and looked away.

"It was definitely Hammer." She smiled. Toni put her head in her hands and groaned. What was the point of her even being here if they were just going to figure all this stuff

out anyway?

"Mr. Stark, would you like to go to prison for the rest of your life? We have a nice one buried deep underground were you will never again see the light of day." Coulson said

as he straightened his tie.

"No, Agent." Toni answered simply. The agent pulled a metallic bracelet from his pocket and quickly secured it around Toni's wrist, locking it in place. He then took off Toni's

handcuffs. Toni yanked at it but it would neither open nor slip off.

"Then here is what will happen. That will monitor all of your activity on any electronic device. You try to hack into SHIELD again, we'll know instantly. You somehow manage

to get it off, it'll send us a signal informing us and then you'll be in a maximum security prison for the rest of your natural life. I generally don't like threatening kids, but you

did manage to gain access to information that could put our global security into jeopardy so don't test us." Once Coulson finished explaining the bracelet Toni had stopped

trying to rip it off her arm. She nodded and pulled her sweater sleeve over it.

"Alright, Agent. So... I'm _not_ going to prison?" Toni could almost laugh. In fact, she did. This was going better than she could ever dream. She was only being interrogated by

scary government people, but not going to prison.

"Not today. However, our... involvement with Hammer Industries is official Avengers business. You'll be telling us everything you know about what the company is doing and

also Fury thinks you could be useful into gaining an insight on the company." Romanov said, standing up.

"You want me to work with the Avengers?" Holy shit, this was incredible.

"They are going to babysit you while gain Intel on Hammer. Under no circumstances are you to interfere with their other missions, you are to have no communication with

Justin Hammer or his associates, and you will speak of this to no one. Understood?" Coulson spoke quickly and Toni just nodded along. This was better than she could have

ever hoped for. "You should also apologize to Barton for tampering with his computer."

"Natasha Romanov, The Black Widow." She held out her hand and she quickly shook it. She was meeting an Avenger. "Come on, I'll introduce you to the team and then you

can go home."

* * *

><p>Hello! Like it so far?<br>Don't forget to review~!


	5. Chapter 5

**_Summary: Toni Stark is 15 years old and lives in a shitty apartment with a father she hates and a mother who is hardly ever coherent. When her genius gets _**

**_her into trouble with the CEO of Hammer Industries she's offered a chance to make enough money to possible get away._**

**I DO NOT OWN THE AVENGERS, OR MARVEL, OR IRONMAN OR ANY OTHER MOVIE REFERENCES IN THIS STORY!**

_This story Coming Home Again belongs to _**_somanyfeels_**_ on AO3 and is also on her account on under the name _**_whothefrickleisbucky_**_!_

_Yes, I got _**_whothefrickleisbucky_**_ to give me their permission to rewrite their story, but with a TWIST!_

* * *

><p>Coulson had left to go file paperwork so Toni was alone in the elevator with Natasha Romanov, the Black Fucking Widow. She knew it was impolite to stare but it was also<p>

impolite to lie about your identity to gain information on someone so she figured she would do it anyway.

"You're the Black Widow." Toni said in disbelief. "I'm meeting the Avengers."

"I noticed. Now, you'll be meeting with us every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday unless we're out on a mission. We'll discuss with you the details later on how you'll help us

apprehend Hammer." Natasha said as the elevator doors opened.

The first thing to catch Toni's eye was the very large hole in the wall just across the room. The next was microwave that was smashed and left abandoned on the floor in the

common room. Natasha just looked at it and sighed. They were just outside the kitchen and Toni stopped to enjoy the delicious smells coming from the room while Natasha

leaned forward slightly to listen.

"-hacked into my computer. Now we're having a team bonding dinner! Bruce, streaming shows online is a sacred event that has been tainted. We shouldn't be making him

curry, we should de-pants him and throw him in a lake in his underwear. Then give him curry."

"If they hired anyone else they would have deleted the files entirely, but he made sure we still had them in a place he knew we would look. Be nice, Clint."

"No, Cap! There's a storm coming for this kid. Maybe I'll finally get to use that bucket of rubber spiders." There was a rather exaggerated evil laugh in the kitchen while

Natasha shook her head. When Toni glanced up at her she grabbed her by the wrist and dragged her into the kitchen.

"Gentleman, this is Tony." Natasha pushed her towards the island in the center of the kitchen as all its occupants began to stare at her. She recognized Thor immediately

because what kid didn't know about the Martian who joined Earth's Mightiest Heroes, he was more muscular in person than on tv. Dr. Bruce Banner, the physicist Toni

recognized from all the science journals she used to read at the library was standing over by the stove in a ridiculous apron that had an arrow pointing up that said, "I'm with

a genius." Steve Rogers she recognized from the black and white photographs they looked at in her old history class, he sat at the kitchen island and read the paper and

smiled at her. The last man she didn't recognize, he sat on the counter and glared at her. Since Toni could name everyone else he assumed this to be Hawkeye.

"You're younger than I thought you'd be." Hawkeye jumped off and was immediately in front of her, staring her down. "You started a war little man. Orange is the New Black

is a one of the best shows I've ever seen and you replaced my Netflix app. I love that show and I love Netflix so you better hide everything you love because I will find where

you live."

Toni looked away. The last thing she wanted was anyone of these guys to be in her apartment. The wallpaper was peeling off and the carpets were stained, but worst of all

that would mean they would meet her parents or find out she's a girl and she would rather just pack up all of her beloved books and the little gadgets she made in her free

time and bring them to this man.

"Clint, stop. You're scaring the boy." Steve Rogers walked over to him and smacked Clint on his back before holding out his hand. "Steve Rogers. Nice to meet you. I'm very

glad you decided to join us in finding out what Hammer is up to. We promise to keep you safe."

"Yadda yadda truth, justice, and protecting the innocent." Clint the turned to return to his seat on the counter to reveal a note taped to his back that read, "Second-Class

Archer". Steve snickered with a wink to Natasha as he gestured for Toni to sit down. Clint looked back at them. "What? God, it's another note on my back isn't it? This one

better not say 'Robin Hood' again Ste- I am greatly offended at this."

Clint crumpled up the note and threw it at a laughing Steve when Bruce started setting plates of curry at each place while everyone took their seats. Toni had never had curry

before and she glanced up at the others who were eating it quickly. She was hungry, hadn't had anything to eat all day so she took a large bite.

"God, Dr. Banner this is delicious. Is there anything you do that isn't absolutely incredible!?" Toni took another bite as Bruce looked up at her and smiled.

"I can think of a few things. So tell us about yourself Tony. We should know the man who will help us uncover the truth behind Justin Hammer."

"Ah, well. I'm fifteen. I'm a Gemini. My favorite color is red. I got my GED last year so I'm done with school."

"A young scholar! No doubt you will be vital to our guest to defeating Hammer, but tell young one, what is a Gemini?" Thor said with a mouth full of food.

"It's a zodiac sign. People like to take the day they were born and see what the positions of the stars say about it." Natasha Leaned across the table towards him.

"What else? What's your family like?" Steve said as he grabbed for the bowl to get more rice.

"They're lovely, especially my mother." Toni said but made sure to keep her voice even. "So what do you guys think of Hammer Industries? What do you need me for?" They

glanced up at the change in conversation.

"You were able to get into SHIELDS most secure files. We were wondering if you could get yourself into Hammer's servers." Bruce said.

"Oh, I can do that. I've done it before." The group fell silent as Toni went back to eating his curry. Thor glanced at the others.

"Is this an impressive feat?" The god asked.

"According to our techies it is. It's a wonder you ever got caught, Stark." Natasha shook her head at her.

"Not a lot of time and I was a bit distracted by the thought of money and prison. The other time I got caught was because I used my phone. I guess that's how Hammer

found me to get me to hack in here." Toni said as she finished her meal and put her plate away. He glanced at the clock. Shit. "I, uh, I have to head home now."

"I'll drive you back." Natasha stood and grabbed her keys.

"See you Monday kid!" Natasha told her as she climbed out of the car.

Toni glared up at the sky as she walked towards her building. It was too dark. She kept going over in her head how she shouldn't have been so stupid as to get arrested. She

prayed that since it was by SHIELD and she now had a super-secret SHIELD mission with the Avengers her parents wouldn't know. She stopped outside her door and waited.

She stared at it as if she was waiting for it to disappear. In fact, she was. She didn't believe in magic, but now was its chance. She leaned in and rested her head on the door

and breathed deeply before entering.

Toni held back her sigh of relief when she saw her dad passed out in her chair with the tv still on. Her mom had long since gone into their room to go to sleep. Toni took a

few cautious steps forward as she tiptoed around the empty bottles. They were haphazardly scattered around the area surrounding Howard's chair, which included the tv and

his bedroom door. Toni made it to the television and turned it off, having it on all night would not do them any favors for their electric bill. Toni took an unfortunate step

backwards that knocked over two bottles that had a domino effect on the rest and they clattered to the ground loudly.

"Shit." Toni whispered as she heard Howard stir in his chair and sit up. She turned and stood up straight as his father took several steps over to him.

"Damn Bitch, you know what time it is?" Howard said to her as he grabbed onto Toni's shirt.

"No, sir."

"Tried calling you, but you're too good to answer the damn phone."

"Shit, no I-I went out today and forgot my phone." Toni shook her head at the lie and didn't notice the fist until it collided with her cheek with a force that would have sent

her to the ground if not for the strong grip on her shirt.

"You don't talk back to me, slut." Toni reached up to touch her cheek but a firm hand ripped her arm away. "Where did you go?"

"Nowhere! I went to see Happy, he needed help with his math." Toni knew it made sense. Most of her friends were still in High School and she regularly tutored them to get

out of the house. Howard let go of her shirt and instead grabbed onto Toni's jaw with a firm grip.

"You have no respect." He said with a punch to the teen's ribs. "You should learn it."

"I'll respect you when you earn it, asshole." Toni regretted it immediately. She knew her bigmouth would kill her eventually and feared that that day had come. She took a

shaky breath as she saw her dad's eyes widen in shock and anger. Toni held back a yelp as Howard threw her to the ground and gave two harsh kicks to her stomach.

"Little girls should not try to talk so grown up." Her dad said as he stumbled to the kitchen and grabbed a beer. Tony sat up and leaned against the side of the couch. She

tensed when her dad crouched down beside her and took a large gulp of the beer. "Tell daddy you're sorry."

"Sorry, sir." Toni said and took a sharp breath as the rest of her dad's beer was poured over her head. Howard laughed as he walked into his room and closed the door.

Toni sat there for several minutes trying to catch her breath. She quickly wiped away whatever beer tried to drip its way into her eyes and then stood to walk to the

bathroom. The teen locked the door behind her and took off her sweater and shirt. She splashed water in her face and hair and wiped herself down with a wet towel before

poking at the dark bruise appearing on her left cheek and the light finger mark around her jaw with a frown. Great, how was she going to cover these up?

With a sigh she went to her room and crawled into her bed still wearing her jeans. She laid on her back and stared up at her glow in the dark stars that she made sure to be

as astronomically correct as possible when she put them up. After several minutes she closed her eyes and just spun the metal SHIELD bracelet around her wrist. Trying to

ignore the pain in her jaw and the cramping of her stomach.

* * *

><p>Two chapters in one day!<br>Poor Toni~!


	6. Chapter 6

**_Summary: Toni Stark is 15 years old and lives in a shitty apartment with a father she hates and a mother who is hardly ever coherent. When her genius gets _**

**_her into trouble with the CEO of Hammer Industries she's offered a chance to make enough money to possible get away._**

**I DO NOT OWN THE AVENGERS, OR MARVEL, OR IRONMAN OR ANY OTHER MOVIE REFERENCES IN THIS STORY!**

_This story Coming Home Again belongs to _**_somanyfeels_**_ on AO3 and is also on her account on under the name _**_whothefrickleisbucky_**_!_

_Yes, I got _**_whothefrickleisbucky_**_ to give me their permission to rewrite their story, but with a TWIST!_

* * *

><p>The weekend passed quickly. Too quick for Toni's liking and her bruises hadn't faded. When she got the text from Coulson at ten in the morning that she would be picked up<p>

in ten minutes she hurried to get ready. She threw on some what baggy jeans and a loose hoodie and rushed out of her room and into the bathroom, knocking over one of

her numerous stacks of books in the process. She dug through the medicine cabinet until she found what he was looking for, her mother's foundation. She knew they were a

match, she'd worn her makeup enough times before. Besides, her mother's always telling her to be more girly. She slathered it on her face, enough to cover the bruises on

her cheek and jaw. Toni forced herself to breath as she examined her work. It wasn't noticeable. They wouldn't see. The last thing she needed was the goddamn Avengers

questioning bruises on her face. Toni would have rather gone to prison and never again see the light of day.

Her phone dinged and she looked out the window to see a black SUV parked in front of the building. He was exactly on time. Creepy.

Howard always left for work at the garage early so Toni had no problem getting out of the apartment without waking anyone, her mom slept like a log anyway. Toni ran down

the stairs and climbed into the passenger side of the car with a big smile to Coulson.

"Come to drive me? So thoughtful." Toni said as she buckled up.

"It's extensive babysitting, Mr. Stark." Coulson said.

"But really, I have a bus pass. I can go anywhere in the city. Why do you want to drive me so bad?"

"Maybe SHIELD doesn't want a known criminal with high levels of intelligence traveling all over the city. Now, stop asking questions and eat your breakfast." Coulson handed

the teen a donut and coffee.

"You bought me breakfast?" Toni stared at the small bag holding a glazed donut and the Starbucks cup. Toni had been buying all of her own meals for herself for the past two

years besides the stuff Hammer tried to feed her and the curry Bruce made a few days ago. But this was just a simple donut and a cup of coffee and it felt special to her.

"Most important meal of the day." Coulson began to drive towards SHIELD HQ and Toni didn't know whether to say 'thank you' or not so he just ate his breakfast and stared

out the window with a smile on her face.

Toni walked out onto the Avenger's floor once they got to SHIELD HQ to find Bruce sitting alone in the living room reading so intently that he didn't notice her enter. No one

else seemed to be around so she wandered down the hall. The bedrooms, she could tell by the names plastered on the doors. One door was crudely painted like the American

flag and it looked as if someone had tried to wash it off. Toni wasn't one to go snooping through rooms and she definitely didn't want to see any Avenger naked, no matter

how toned their body was, so she went towards the other hallway.

As she passed the kitchen she saw a toolbox sitting on the counter. Toni rushed into the kitchen as quietly as possible so as to not attract Bruce's attention. She grabbed the

toolbox and sat down at the island and pushed her sweater sleeve up. After a quick examination she realized she could only get inside it from the bottom side. She really

wanted to open it up and see how it worked so she had to get it off somehow.

The bracelet was smooth and shiny. The only break in the surface was the groove in which the two ends were fastened together. She went through the kitchen drawers until

she found a small knife. She sat back down and gently wedged it into the space. After Toni realized she wouldn't cut herself she slowly started to wiggle it in an attempt to

break the bracelet open.

"Shit!" Tony shouted as an electric shock coursed through her and she yanked the knife from the bracelet and flung it upwards, which wasn't a very smart idea but she was a

bit distracted to make logical decisions. "What the fuck? Who puts a shock bracelet on a teenager!? I'm suing!"

"Well, I don't believe you're supposed to be messing with it." Bruce walked into the kitchen and glancing at the toolbox and knife that had embedded itself into the ceiling.

"Well, Dr. Banner, I was just trying to fix your microwave." Toni said as she yanked down her sweater sleeve as Bruce lifted an eyebrow. She pulled her phone that was

beeping in her pocket. "Oh, look. Our buddy Agent is also reminding me I'm not supposed to mess with it. I just wanted to see how it worked. I would have put it back on."

"Maybe you would have. You're a weird kid." Bruce sat down next to her and held out a chocolate bar he'd been eating. Toni reached out and broke off a piece. "You can call

me Bruce. I don't really go by Dr. Banner these days."

"But you have a PhD in Nuclear Physics. That's incredible and you should totally flaunt it. I read your paper on the energy released in a gamma ray burst and how it can be

measured. It was brilliant." Toni leaned forward and smiled. Bruce lifted an eyebrow.

"Thank you. You know, astrophysicists think there may be a way to harness that energy. A single millisecond of a GRB could potentially world's energy needs for the next

hundred billion years."

"Nerd alert. I have no idea what you're saying." Clint said as he and Natasha walked into the kitchen to grab water bottles out of the fridge. He walked over and laid his hand

on Toni's shoulder. "Sorry we missed you getting here. Nat and I were just sparring in the gym."

"That's three out of five." Toni said as she quickly shrugged off Clint's hand. "Where's the Buff Blonde Brigade?"

"Captain America and Thor were needed in New Jersey." Natasha said.

"Are you guys implying that I'm not buff? Rude." Clint sat down, looking confused at the knife in the ceiling.

"Not as buff as a super soldier and a god. Anyway, it's time for Toni to tell us about everyone you met that worked with Hammer Industries. Tell us anything suspicious they

said or did and you have to tell us if you found anything on their servers. Don't worry, we'll record it for Thor and Cap to listen to later." Natasha said as everyone else grew

quiet to listen to her. Holy shit, this must have really been serious if they were going to just stop everything they were doing to listen to her talk.

"Well, I guess it started when I hacked Hammer's bank account and borrowed $150." Toni said. Great, now they would know she was a thief.

"Why?" Bruce asked.

"Money was tight. I didn't think he would notice." Toni shrugged.

"I'll talk to Coulson, have him set you up a with a weekly Consultant's fee. You'll be paid for helping us. Continue." Natasha as she wrote something down in her notebook.

Well, alright then.

"He sorta did notice and said he'd pay me to hack SHIELD and delete all the files on Hammer Industries. But I figured if you guys were investigating them then it was for a

good reason so I just moved them. Hammer thinks he's in the clear and I get the money." Toni grinned at them. It had been a decent plan.

"How did that work out for you, genius?" Clint chuckled, taking a gulp of his water before being elbowed by Natasha.

"Not how I pictured, but I seem to be doing fine. Okay, when I first met Hammer he kept talking down to me so I used my phone to hack into HI's secure files, but it was

only for a moment."

"You used a phone?" Natasha sat back in her chair. She then leaned forward quickly, ready to write something down if needed be. "Did you see any suspicious files?"

"I only saw one. They were working on a project. Marsh or mace or something. I can't remember." Toni looked down but Natasha just nodded. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. If it's not something you're opposed to, we would like you to get into their files again." Bruce said.

"Oh, yeah. I can do that. No problem." Toni said quickly, smiling slightly. "Then he, Mr. Hammer, invited me to lunch to offer me the job. It was really weird looking, but

alright tasting. He had a man with him, Stane."

"We're familiar with Obadiah Stane." Natasha continued writing in her notebook.

"Okay, other than the fact that he was really scary and seemed to be lacking in hair, I don't know a lot about him. That's it." Toni shrugged and looked at the three Avengers

in front of her.

"Thank you for the information." Natasha closed the book and smiled. "It's 1:30 now, so technically you're free to go, but it's Fajita Night if you want to stay."

"Nah. I promised my friend Rhodey I would help him with his physics homework. I was in Advanced Placement." Toni stood up with a wave and went to leave the kitchen.

Suddenly she was grabbed up from behind and pulled up against someone's chest.

"Come on, Tony. You're part of the team now. Fajitas on Monday and on Fridays we watch Disney." Clint said as he pulled the teen to him. Toni's breathing hitched. Clint

wasn't holding her too hard but her stomach and ribs were still sore from a few days ago and the pressure was uncomfortable. Though the worst feeling was that she couldn't

move, she couldn't get away. Toni tried to tell herself that Clint wouldn't hurt her, but all she could think of was the numerous threats of payback the archer had given her

and what if this was it. She felt herself beginning to panic.

"Please, put me down! Put me down!" Toni yelled out and squirmed. Clint's hold on her immediately loosened and Toni felt her feet touch the ground and leaned against the

wall. She looked up and saw that Clint had backed away several feet and was slightly frowning with a worried look in his eyes. Natasha brushed Toni's arm and Bruce came

up with a glass of water.

"Are you alright?" Natasha furrowed her eyebrows as Toni took a sip of the drink.

"I'm Fine. I just wasn't expecting it. And I HATE being picked up." Toni lied, scowling to show just how much she 'hated' being picked up. She smiled up at all three of them.

"Really, I'm fine sorry for overreacting like that, just don't try and lift me up. But I really should be going, this guy is hopeless in the sciences."

Toni stood up and slowly began walking out. She was tempted to ignore the sounds of protest coming from Bruce. But decided she couldn't, that would be rude and Bruce has

been anything but rude to her. so she stopped walking and Turned to face Bruce.

"Yeah ?"

"Maybe your friend could wait a little bit longer? I wanted to chat with you for a bit." Bruce said smiling.

"Huh? Oh, uh sure?" Toni answered in confusion. What would Bruce want to talk with her for?

Bruce gestured for Toni to follow him as he started walking towards the elevator. Toni followed and smiled at Clint and Natasha as she walked past them. She tried her best

to hide her anxiety about walking so close to Clint.

She tried to ignore the loud silence in the elevator. Finally after what seemed like hours the elevator came to a stop and opened with a ding.

"Whoa..." Toni whispered in awe if the lab in font of her.

Bruce chuckled at Toni's reaction, and then snorted when he heard what Toni said next,

"It's like CANDYlAND!"

"...Shaddup..." Toni muttered when she saw Bruce laughing at her.

Bruce took it the wrong way and thought he had offended her and quickly apologized.

"It's fine. it's fine! Really!" Toni felt a little put off by his apology.

"Well, you sort of reminded me of a kid with your reaction..." Bruce trailed off when he saw Toni's look on her face. "What?"

"I. Do. Not. Like. Being. Called. A. Kid!"

Now Bruce couldn't help but laugh out loud, "Just like how you don't like being picked up?"

"Yes!" Toni replied not missing a beat.

After Bruces laughter finally calm down Tony asked, "So...why'd you bring me down here?"

"Well..." When Bruce saw Toni's Face growing more and more inpatient he said quickly, "I was worried about you. you looked panicked when Clint lifted you up, I guess you

really don't like being picked up, huh?"

Toni was starting to feel really bad for lying to Bruce and the other avengers, but she knew that they couldn't know the truth so Toni decided to change the subject.

"Who's that?"

Bruce turned his head and look to where Toni's finger was pointing at, and paled slightly when he saw that she was pointing at the picture frame on his desk, "T-That's

me...and Betty Ross."

Toni thought she recognized the last name she thought about it for a minute while Bruce stayed silent having recognized the look of concentration on Toni's face, a minute or

two had passed and then Toni realized where she remembered it from, "Wait Ross as in General Ross's daughter?!"

"Yes, before...before I became the Hulk, We were dating, and well...I loved her...it's a long story..." Bruce told Toni as he sat at his desk wearily.

"Well I have plenty of time, especially since you already invited me down here! so talk! I promise I won't tell~!" Toni said to Brice as she sat cross legged on the floor in front

of him.

Bruce hesitated, but when he saw the curiosity in Toni's eyes he knew that he could trust her, and so Bruce opened his mouth and told Toni all about Betty, General Ross,

How he became the Hulk, but Bruce decided not to tell Toni if his childhood, and Toni realizing this didn't ask.

After an hour had passed, and Toni declining the offer yet again to stay for dinner did she enter the elevator and leave.

She stood in the rain for a second when she walked out of the building before pulling her hood up and walking to the bus stop. Toni drowned out her thoughts, knowing how

she could of messed everything up, by reading every ad plastered around while she waited for the bus.

"Rhodey, for this problem you need to use one of the main equations for motion on constant acceleration." Toni leaned over her friend's bed to look closely at his paper. Toni

had been friends with Rhodey for quite a while now, and she never told him that she was actually a she and not a guy like him, but she was terrified that it would mess up

their friendship or make Rhodey act different around her.

"Vx = V0x + AxT? Right? You're the genius here, Tony." Rhodey looked up from his paper and smirked at his friend.

"Yes, that's right. And that's the correct equation also." Toni stuck his tongue out as Rhodey rushed to plug in numbers to the equation and get his answer.

"So are you going to tell me what happened to your face?" Rhodey asked when he finished.

"What? You saying I'm ugly?" Toni said feeling a tiny bit offended.

"No, it's a bit bruised up." Rhodey frowned as Toni went to go look at the mirror. The rain had washed off some of the makeup and pale purple marks dotted her cheek and

jawline. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Oh, it's nothing. You know how the neighborhood is. You look at someone wrong and then they get aggressive." Toni shrugged it off.

"Maybe you should tell someone." Rhodey laid his hand on his friend's shoulder. Toni resisted the urge to flinch away, she had already freaked out on too many people today

just for touching her.

"You're getting worked up over nothing. Just a few jerks, I can handle it." Toni looked Rhodey in the eye until he was satisfied and pulled out his art homework.

"Alright. Know anything about 'The Realism Art movement'?"

"You're on your own with that. See you later." Toni left Rhodey's house and began the twenty block walk back to her place.

It was still early, her dad would still be at work by the time she got home so it would be a quiet night for her unless Howard had a bad day. Toni really hoped for a quiet

night. She didn't need more bruises and more questions. She had something she needed to do, sadly she couldn't until the bracelet was off her wrist. She just wanted

everything to go back to normal. Last month she only got the occasional passing glance and gave the seldom street fight story to her friends, now she would have to explain

everything to the guys at SHIELD. God, she saw them three times a week. What would she do?

Toni was pulled away from her thoughts when a black Mercedes pulled up next to her. Toni stopped walking but didn't approach the vehicle. She knew better than that. A

moment later its backseat window rolled down.

"Toni, how wonderful it is to see you again!" A voice from the window called. Toni had a flicker of familiarity with the voice, but she couldn't place it until she took a step

forward and saw the face.

"Oh, hello again, Mr. Stane." Toni's stomach dropped. There went her peaceful night.


End file.
